Detergent alcohols generally have been made by oligomerizing ethylene to produce olefins having a desired number of carbon atoms, and then producing a primary detergent range alcohol from the resulting olefins. The detergent range alcohols are produced by a number of commercial processes, such as by oxo or hydroformylation of long chain olefins. Unfortunately, ethylene is a relatively expensive starting material. In addition, preparation of long chain olefins by olefin oligomerization is not amenable to fine tuning to produce only those olefins or alcohols demanded by clients.
Methods for producing a controllable slate of detergent molecules are needed which do not necessarily rely on ethylene as a starting material.